Dear President Trump,

Thanks to Laura and Twitter, I heard Barbara Jordan’s impeachment speech for the first time last night. It’s uncanny how virtually all the essentials of Nixon’s transgressions and his violations of the people’s trust that she laid out were spot on for you too. It gave me chills. It was like she was speaking to us today even though she made the speech nearly 45 years ago.

After matter-of-factly establishing that when the constitution was written “We the People…..” did not include her, she went on to say she was serving as an inquisitor on behalf of all Americans. She then brilliantly laid out the historical context regarding the constitution’s stipulations for impeachment and strongly argued that a move to impeach must never be used for petty reasons – there’s too much important work for Congress to do than to engage in partisan bickering over dumb stuff the president does. If steps are going to be taken to impeach the president, the reasons have to be big, she said. Well, obviously the Watergate burglary, the lies about it, and the efforts to obstruct the investigation were all very big and Nixon was forced to resign once that “smoking gun” tape surfaced. At that point it was clear to even his diehard GOP supporters that he was doomed, that they could not overlook or defend his criminality and crookedness.

What is it going to take for the current GOP Senators to come around and admit that you too have betrayed the American people’s trust and need to be removed from office? When will they admit that you obtained the Presidency under false pretenses? Where is their an inflection point or are enough of them so compromised themselves that they will never stand against you no matter how many high crimes and misdemeanors you are shown to have committed?

Obviously we’ll have to wait and see how this horrid mess of your presidency plays out and whether the GOP simply continues to paper over it. But Rep. Barbara Jordan’s instruction on impeachment, its history and how that history related directly to their present day circumstance and now ours, is a shining example of the best America has to bring and gives me hope that such intelligent, well-argued, and quietly passionate brilliance will prevail.

May we be safe to state our cases.
May we be happy to let our lights shine without making a fuss.
May we have healthy regard for our own and one another’s intelligence.
May those who need to make peace with your failed presidency hurry up and do so.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson